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Stochastic and deterministic processes jointly structure tropical arthropod communities

Farnon Ellwood, M. D.; Manica, Andrea; Foster, William A.

Authors

Farnon Ellwood Farnon.Ellwood@uwe.ac.uk
Associate Professor in Conservation Science

Andrea Manica

William A. Foster



Abstract

The question of whether ecological assemblages are structured by stochastic and deterministic (e.g. interspecific competition) processes is controversial, but it is difficult to design sampling regimes and experiments that can dissect the relative importance of stochastic and deterministic processes in natural assemblages. Using null models, we tested communities of arthropod decomposers in tropical epiphytes for patterns of species co-occurrence, while controlling for habitat gradients, seasonal variations and ecological succession. When environmental conditions were controlled, our analysis showed that the communities were structured stochastically. However, analysing mixed sets of communities that were deliberately created either from two distinct heights or two successional stages revealed that communities were structured deterministically. These results confirm that habitat gradients and dispersal/competition trade-offs are capable of generating non-random patterns within decomposer arthropod communities, but reveal that when such effects are accounted for, species co-occurrence is fundamentally random. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.

Citation

Farnon Ellwood, M. D., Manica, A., & Foster, W. A. (2009). Stochastic and deterministic processes jointly structure tropical arthropod communities. Ecology Letters, 12(4), 277-284. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01284.x

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Apr 1, 2009
Deposit Date Feb 25, 2013
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Ecology Letters
Print ISSN 1461-023X
Electronic ISSN 1461-0248
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 12
Issue 4
Pages 277-284
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01284.x
Keywords rainforest arthropods, community structure, interspecific competition, niches, neutral theory, stochasticity
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/997018
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01284.x